PARKING MAD

stick your fine

The scheme was introduced by Tesco's car park operations manager, Cat Parkinson, whose parents were teachers at a school for pupils with special needs, making it an issue close to her heart, she said.

She also spoke to disabled servicemen and women before launching the scheme this week.

She said: "The subject of living with disability is close to my heart. I got to know students and their loved ones and learnt about living with a disability.

"The new self-monitoring scheme allows stores to better control their car park, to help protect the disabled bays. This makes parking at Tesco fairer for everyone.

"I spoke to British paratrooper Jordan Beecher who shops at our Finchley store. In 2012, while on his third operational tour of Afghanistan, he stepped on an improvised explosive device which claimed his left leg.

"Jordan told me it was imperative that he had access to disabled parking as he adjusted to his new circumstances."

She added: "Disabled parking is an important part of the customer experience that is sometimes overlooked. I'm trying to change that."

The plans have been welcomed by campaigners, who hope enforcement schemes will highlight the seriousness of parking in disabled bays.

A spokesman for the charity Disabled Motoring UK said: "Hopefully the message will get out there that this is a serious crime affecting a very vulnerable group."